Malala Yousafzai- Pakistani Activist for Female Education

Pictured above is Malala Yousafzai.

Malala Yousafzai was 
born on July 12, 1997 
in Mingora, Pakistan. 
According to her 
website, The Malala 
Fund, she says that "welcoming a baby girl is not always cause for celebration in Pakistan- but my father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, was determined to give me every opportunity a boy would have" (3). Malala attended a school that her father had founded, and loved learning. When the Taliban began to attack and bomb girls' schools, Malala was forced to leave her school in January of 2008 at the age of 11. In 2008 and 2009, Malala gave speeches about how the Taliban is taking away girls' basic rights to an education and about living under Taliban rule. At such a young age, she continued to actively speak about the rights of all women to an education.


In 2011, the Taliban issued a death threat against Malala for her activism. In October of 2012, while riding the bus home from school, a masked gunman boarded the bus and asked, "Who is Malala?" He shot Malala on the left side of her head. She miraculously survived, and woke up 10 days later in a hospital in Birmingham, England, where she currently resides with her family. Malala decided to continue her fight until every girl could go to school (to date,130 million girls are still not enrolled in any education programs)(3). She established the Malala Fund, which is a "charity dedicated to giving every girl an opportunity to achieve a future she chooses...to ensure all girls receive 12 years of free, safe, quality education" (3). Malala travels all around the world to meet girls who are fighting through poverty, wars, child marriage, and gender discrimination to advocate for them to attend school. Malala published an autobiography, I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban," in October of 2013, and it became a best-seller. In October of 2014, Malala was the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. In April of 2017, she was appointed as a U.N. Messenger of Peace.

Pictured above is a comic created in support of Malala Yousafzai.

Attached below is a link to a Youtube video in a "draw my life" style which provides a great overview of Malala's story:

For more information on Malala and her charity, here is a link to her website: https://www.malala.org/


In my opinion, I believe that Malala is an exemplary individual who is continually advancing towards gender rights. At such a young age, Malala was advocating for her education rights, as well as for the rights of millions of girls across the world who are still denied access to an education. Malala survived an attempted assassination, and instead of breaking down and being silenced, she maintained her resiliency and made her voice even more powerful. Almost immediately after she recovered from her injuries, she started advocating for women's rights to an education and founded her charity. 


To this day, Malala is still an active advocate for women's educational rights. Her charity works to invest in local education activists, advocate to hold leaders accountable, and amplifying girls' voices. Most of her charity work is based in Afghanistan, Brazil, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Syria. She is still considered a target by the Taliban, therefore she is risking her life every single day in order to advocate for the women who cannot speak up themselves. Through her charity, and through the generosity of sponsors of her organization, Malala has been able to support the full education of millions of women across the world. However, more than 130 million girls and women are still denied their basic right to an education, and Malala has made it no secret that her work will not be finished until every woman has an opportunity to attend school. Because of Malala's perseverance, determination, bravery, and generosity, millions of young girls and women will have an equal chance at receiving an education, as well as receiving advocacy on other major societal issues, such as child marriage, poverty, and gender discrimination. Following Malala's lead, people across the world can come together as a united society to ensure that young girls and women everywhere are receiving their deserved education. Through this, as Malala would say, "we can create a world where all girls can learn and lead" (3).

Pictured above is a picture of and quote by Malala Yousafzai. 

Works Cited

1. “Malala Yousafzai Biography.” Biography, A&E Television Networks, 2 Apr. 2014, https://www.biography.com/activist/malala-yousafzai.

2. “Malala Yousafzai- Draw My Life.” YouTube, YouTube, 8 Jan. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNAmM-llm4c.

3. Yousafzai, Malala. Malala Fund, Malala Fund, 2018, https://www.malala.org/.

4. All images were obtained from Google Image Searches.